Dubai To Open First Ever Solar-Powered Desalination Plant
By Peak Johnson
Expected to launch sometime this month, Dubai is scheduled to have its first solar-powered desalination plant according to Utilities-Me.
The plant will produce desalinated water by using solar energy and an integrated energy storage system, this allows the station to operate for 24 hours a day. All electricity used to pump and desalinate water at the station will be produced by a hybrid electricity source that combines photovoltaic cells.
The desalination plant uses reverse osmosis technology to produce 50 cubic meters of drinking water a day. The project supports Dewa’s Research & Development efforts (R&D) in order to provide high-quality drinking water.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) visited the water desalination unit at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park to check its progress.
"The project also supports DEWA and the UAE Water Foundation’s efforts to supply people in poor countries with clean drinking water, by conducting specialised research regarding the production of desalinated water by the use of solar energy, storing it, and supporting water technology related projects to defeat drought,” Al Tayler told Utilities-Me.
He added that the project will follow the “Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050” to provide 7 percent of Dubai’s energy from clean energy sources by the year 2020.
The project aims to desalinate salt water and produce a final product that is “as good as bottled water.”
Just last month, DEWA inaugurated one of the largest single-rooftop arrays in the Middle East and North Africa.
Al Tayer launched the project, which supports Shams Dubai as part of the Smart Dubai initiative, launched by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
To read more about the world’s latest desalination projects visit Water Online’s Desalination Solutions Center.